England squad named for London Sevens
Photo:Cracknell adds physicality (Photo: Getty Images)
Chris Cracknell, Mat Turner and Christian Lewis-Pratt return to the England squad for the Marriott London Sevens this weekend where a record breaking crowd of 115,000 is expected across the two days.
The experienced trio have over 80 tournament caps between them and replace Sam Stanley, Jack Walsh and Sam Blanchet who all made their debuts in Tokyo.
England sit fourth in the HSBC Sevens World Series behind New Zealand, South Africa and Fiji and will aim to finish strongly as they build on recent tournaments – third in Tokyo, second in Hong Kong and Plate winners in Glasgow.
Head Coach Simon Amor said: “As an England player, playing in front of a sell-out crowd at Twickenham is a huge occasion and having added experience in the squad will certainly be a benefit. A few of the guys have been injured in recent weeks so it’s great to have them back and I’m sure they’ll relish the atmosphere.
“Cracknell brings physicality and size and, in the make-up of our team, that’s important. In Mat Turner, we’ve got someone who can be one of the best finishers on the series. Christian has come on a great deal in training in recent weeks, in terms of his leadership as well as attack and defence. I’m really excited to see how he goes.”
Tickets for Saturday sold out last week and the 73, 000 supporters can look forward to watching England take on Wales (11.34), Argentina (14.40) and New Zealand (18.06) in pool A.
“Everyone says that every pool is tough, but it is genuinely true,“ added Amor. “This draw will be a challenge but we have spoken a lot in recent weeks and months about creating our own identity in terms of defence and attack and trusting our systems. If we get that right, we can be confident going into each game.”
England Sevens:
Dan Bibby
Phil Burgess
Chris Cracknell
Alex Gray
Christian Lewis-Pratt
Tom Mitchell (Captain)
Dan Norton
Howard Packman
Tom Powell
James Rodwell
Mat Turner
Marcus Watson
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